Originally Published February 18, 2020
The 1990s Atlanta festival FreakNik is making a comeback after nearly 20 years. Renamed Freak World, the festival will take over Atlanta for three days on June 19th – 21st.
Over 40 music artists are expected to perform to a crowd of 18,000 plus attendees at the Cascade Driving Range in the City of South Fulton.
Promotional marketing company After 9 Partners, LLC launched a successful version of FreakNik for one day in 2019, showcasing Uncle Luke, Da Brat, Project Pat and more.
Watch the Promo Clip For The 2nd Annual Freak World Event
FreakNik started off as a decent college student kickback during Spring Break in the 1980s.
The annual party quickly picked up as word of mouth reached HBCUs and hoods all over the U.S.
Soon, not only were students participating in the growing social event, but people who didn’t even attend school started coming to the parties.
FreakNik became a huge block party known for women dancing in the streets and men showing off their cars.
Music was a big part of the scene with Hip Hop being the main attraction. Oftentimes, Uncle Luke’s music would be banging out of the speakers of the cars.
It was common for cars to be lined up on the streets, stagnant in a major gridlock.
Watch Uncle Luke’s “Work It Out” Featuring FreakNik 1993
As time passed and the people attending became more out of control, the number of assaults, rapes, public intoxications and indecent exposures increased.
FreakNik also became a way for sex traffickers to recruit victims with many of the women being very young.
“It started out as a positive thing, but over the years it has become a massive problem,” said Kwame Manley, president of the student government association at Morehouse College at that time. He claimed that there were “undesirables of certain cities coming to see what they could get into . . . abusing women and [showing] all that lewd unruly behavior.”
Some alarming stats were released in 1998 following the FreakNik of that year. With over 50,000 people in attendance, there were 481 arrests, 45 felonies, four rapes, four shootings and six assault cases.
“When individuals say they want to come to Freaknik, they come with a mentality that it is an open season on women,” said George Hawthorne, who was once a part of Atlanta’s Welcoming Committee. “Their main intent is to come for some lewd and sexual experience.”
In 1999, police harshly cracked down on the event making it harder for crimes to be committed and disorderly conduct to take place.
Mayor Bill Campbell implemented traffic restrictions to curtail the population of people attending the gridlock party. The attendance of women dropped significantly causing FreakNik to become a bore. Eventually, FreakNik would come to an end as people began to complain about the traffic, noise and crime.
One Man’s Encounter At FreakNik & It’s Impact On The ATL
What was once a social gathering of black college students connecting over food, music and dance was ruined by the few who didn’t think twice about corrupting the experience for others.
FreakNik would be alright if women were guaranteed safety and the City of Atlanta backed the event to ensure traffic is managed and the number of attendees are capped to prevent overcrowding.
Just for good measure, it would be even more impactful if the festival would include interactive platforms where attendees could get more information on protecting themselves.
Tents and medical RVs can be on standby for HIV and STD testing and access to preventative resources such as condoms, Plan B pills, and emergency medical contacts.
It would be no different from Coachella, Rolling Loud or Spring Break festivals in Cancun, Florida and the coast of Texas, except now people will be more aware of the consequences of their actions.
What do you think?
Watch The Documentary The 90’s FreakNik Atlanta Story
